Here are 10 impressive facts from the week of June 21-27
Efficient: Bailey Ober threw just 89 pitches in a complete, 10-strikeout game on Saturday. It was just the second complete nine-inning game by a pitcher with 10 or more strikeouts and fewer than 90 pitches since pitch counting began (1988), joining David Cone in his perfect game on July 18, 1999. It was the Twins’ first complete nine-inning game with fewer than 90 pitches since the one made by Venezuelan Carlos Silva, who needed 74 pitches to achieve the feat on May 20, 2005.
Skenes Day: After his eighth MLB start on Tuesday, Paul Skenes has struck out 61 and walked just eight. He is the second pitcher with at least 60 strikeouts and 10 or fewer walks in the first eight appearances of his career since at least 1901. Skenes joins Masahiro Tanaka, who in 2014 struck out 66 with seven walks in the first six starts of his career. Skenes has thrown 70 pitches of at least 100 miles per hour this season. No other starter has made more than 36 (Josqueyan from Dominican Republic). Skenes’ 101.5 mph strikeout to end his outing was the fastest by a Pirates starter since pitch velocity began being tracked (2008). He broke his own record.
New York, New York: On Sunday, for the sixth time in his career, Dominican Luis Severino fanned more than 10 batters in a game without walking. It was his first 10-strikeout game of any kind with the Mets. Severino is the fourth pitcher with a game of 10 or more strikeouts with both the Mets and the Yankees, joining Al Leiter, David Cone and Orlando Hernández.
By Willie: Willie Mays’ 15 career RBIs and 16 career plate appearances that resulted in career hits are the most by a Giants player since RBIs became official (1920), according to the Elias Sports Bureau. So, of course, in the Giants’ first home game since Mays’ death, with the entire team wearing No. 24 on Monday in his honor, San Francisco won by a career hit. Baseball is the best.
The first one is the charm: Dominican Jhonkensy Noel debuted with the Guardians on Wednesday and made his presence felt immediately by hitting a home run in his first at-bat. Noel became the fourth player in Cleveland franchise history to homer in his first major league at-bat, joining Kevin Kouzmanoff (9/2/06), Jay Bell (9/29/86 ) and Earl Averill (4/16/29).
To continue winning: The Dodgers are now 24-0 this season in games in which Miguel Rojas gets at least one hit through Wednesday’s finale. That extended the longest winning streak by a team to start a season when a player hits a homer since 1900, according to Elias, ahead of Carlos Pena in 2010 (10), Jimmie Foxx in 1931 (19), Don Drysdale in 1962 (18) and Long Tom Hughes in 1903 (18).
SS Power: Gunnar Henderson hit his 26th homer of the season on Wednesday, in the Orioles’ 80th game. In this way, he was tied for the most home runs by a shortstop in his team’s first 80 games in a season, with Alex Rodríguez in 1998 and Ernie Banks in 1960. The most home runs by a shortstop in a season were Rodríguez’s 57 in 2022, followed by Rodríguez’s 52 in 2001, the only two 50-homer campaigns by a shortstop in history. Twenty-five of Henderson’s home runs have come as a leadoff hitter, the second most in a team’s first 80 games in a season, behind Brady Anderson’s 26 in 1996, also as a member of the Orioles. The most home runs as a leadoff hitter in a season is 41, by Venezuelan Ronald Acuña Jr. in 2023.
Stone in control: Gavin Stone’s shutout on Wednesday was the Dodgers’ first complete game of any kind since Walker Buehler’s shutout on April 25, 2022. At 25 years and 255 days old, Stone became the youngest pitcher in the Dodgers who have thrown a shutout since Clayton Kershaw did so on July 2, 2012 at 25 years and 105 days old.
This is 30: Aaron Judge hit his 30th homer on Wednesday in his 80th game of the season, matching his pace in 2022. He becomes the ninth player to hit 30 or more homers in his first 80 games of a season on more than one occasion, joining Babe Ruth (four times), Mark McGwire (four), Barry Bonds (four), Albert Pujols and Sammy Sosa, Roger Maris, Jose Canseco and Ken Griffey Jr. Judge now has 287 career homers, eight more than any other player in his first 1,000 major league games. It was his 915th game.
A real “iron man”: Matt Olson has played in 536 consecutive games dating back to May 2, 2021. There have only been six other streaks of at least 500 consecutive games played since 2000, according to Elias. They belong to the Dominican Miguel Tejada 2000-2007 (1,152 consecutive games), Whit Merrifield 2018-2022 (553), Prince Fielder 2010-2014 (547), Alex Rodriguez 2000-2003 (546), Hideki Matsui 2003-06 (518) and Mark Teixeira 2004-2007 (507).
